1. Australia: International Tourists Fill Boutique Hotels
Rebounding international tourism is boosting business at Australia’s boutique hotels, ahead of the 2032 Summer Olympic Games to be held in Brisbane.
Australia’s smaller boutique hotels have historically drawn lower occupancy, room rates and revenue than big-box luxury properties, but the tables have been turning for the past two years. Troy Craig, regional director of hotel valuation and advisory services at CBRE Hotels, said leisure-based domestic tourism during the pandemic fueled a “fundamental shift in the profile of underlying room demand amid heightened demand for unique and hyper-personalized hotel stays.”
2. UK: Amazon Won’t Appeal County’s Rejection of Mega-Hub
E-commerce giant Amazon confirmed it will not appeal a Yorkshire, England, county council’s rejection of its plans for a nearly 3-million-square-foot storage and distribution center, as its take-up of United Kingdom warehouses has plummeted to no deals over 100,000 square feet so far in 2023.
Construction services provider ISG Retail filed plans in 2021 for a site near the center of Cleckheaton in northern England. Amazon had planned to occupy the development, which was proposed to include about 2.9 million square feet of distribution space along with ancillary offices, parking and landscaping.
3. Germany: Facebook Owner Meta Leases Space in Munich
Tech giant Meta plans to open a new office in the Campus der Ideen/Neue Balan complex in Munich, Germany.
The owner of Facebook, Whatsapp and Instagram aims to take 3,000 square meters in the basement and on the first floor of Haus 28, the latest extension of the Campus project owned by investor Allgemeine Südboden. Monthly rents for newly developed parts of the complex range from €29 to €35 per square meter.
4. France: Offices Lead Drop in Property Values
Real estate values fell significantly in the first half for nearly all categories of real estate in France, with the drop most pronounced for offices, and investment returns followed similar trends.
A study by data firm Views+S, covering €86 billion in assets held by 19 listed real estate companies, showed the weighted average net rate of return at 4.9% at the end of June, as property values fell on average by 3.6%. But office properties had an average decline of 4.8% in appraisal values, and the decline was 6% in regions outside of Paris.
5. Canada: Ford Partners With South Korean Firms on Major EV Battery Plant
U.S. automaker Ford is teaming with SK On, South Korea’s largest energy company, and South Korean material company EcoProBM to build a planned $1.2 billion cathode manufacturing facility in Bécancour, advancing Quebec’s goal of attracting electric vehicle production facilities.
The new plant is intended to provide key materials for batteries that would ultimately power Ford’s electric vehicles, employing 345 workers after it opens in the first half of 2026. The facility is planned to encompass 3 million square feet in a six-floor building.
6. US: French Owner Changes Mind About Selling US Malls
French retail owner Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield hopes to see an eventual financial windfall after deciding not to say au revoir to America as originally planned.
Paris-based URW is slowing plans to sell its remaining retail portfolio in the United States, where it owns more than 22 million square feet of malls stretching from New Jersey to California. That’s a change in strategy for URW, which for several years has said it was looking to shed all of its U.S. malls to focus on its European holdings.
This report was compiled from CoStar’s news publications in the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, France and Germany.